The commentator bellowed “where did this performance come from?!” after Wayde van Niekerk did the seemingly impossible and smashed Michael Johnson’s 400m world record to win South Africa’s first gold at the Rio Olympics.
It was such a perfect run that it couldn’t have been a fluke, as the commentator was suggesting with his remark.
Sunday night’s run at Rio’s Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium had grown men say they were crying tears of joy in the aftermath of Van Niekerk’s performance.
Things fell into place too, like they have to, for the 24-year-old to post a time of 43.03 – and he didn’t even collapse on the track this time, like he did when he conquered the world in Beijing last year in his previous best mark of 43.48.
Van Niekerk, who hails from Kraaifontein and has lived in Bloemfontein since his teens, was introduced first to the crowd in Rio, as he was running on the outside in an unfavourable Lane 8. He did his trademark little salute to the TV camera, and we all gestured back to him, in solidarity.
And then he sprinted. The whole 400 metres. From start to finish. No pacing himself in the first 200m, no looking over his shoulder to see where defending Olympic champion Kirani James and American star LaShawn Merritt were.
Van Niekerk was running his own race, the race of his life that he has been planning for since winning world championship gold last August.
He has had a measured, carefully planned schedule in 2016 to ensure that he was in optimum shape for Rio.
Van Niekerk already made history with his first real race of the year, on March 12 at the Free State provincial championships, when he ran 9.98 in the 100m – just two one-hundredths of a second outside the SA record of 9.96 – to become the first athlete in history to have times of sub-10 seconds in the 100m, sub-20 in the 200m and sub-44 in the 400m.
Not even the greats like Usain Bolt and Michael Johnson had achieved that feat, and little did we know that it was a sign of things to come in Rio.
Doing the sprint work early in the season was all part of the bigger picture, and Van Niekerk did his first serious 400m of the year only in mid-April, at the SA championships in Stellenbosch.
He tried a different approach in the final as he held back for nearly 300m before finishing strongly in the home straight to win in 44.98, without breaking a sweat.
In an interview with Independent Media two days before the race, Van Niekerk was asked about whether he had Johnson’s 400m world record in his sights at the Rio Olympics, and his answer portrayed his sheer bloody-mindedness. Nothing was going to stop him from achieving his goal.
“I’ve said it so many times before – Michael Johnson’s record is Michael Johnson’s record. Me as Wayde, I need to do my own times and achieve my own goals, write my own journey and own story. If that means a new world record, I would be grateful for that, but I am focused on Wayde.”
Next up was some more sprint work at the SA Student Championships in Polokwane at the end of April, where he clocked a wind-assisted 9.98 in the semi-final and 10.03 in the final of the 100m, and won the 200m title as well in 20.35.
Van Niekerk has often said that the 200m was his favourite event, and that the 400m is “a blessing”.
Having to get back to his studies towards a marketing degree at the University of Free State, Van Niekerk ran competitively just once in May, but made it count as he produced the fastest 400m time on South African soil with a 44.11 in the heats of the SA Open Championships on his own track in Bloemfontein.
He reportedly collapsed on the track afterwards, and an ongoing back problem saw him withdraw from the rest of the meeting.
The serious build-up to Rio began on June 2 at the Rome Diamond League event, where he had another solid outing to win the 400m in 44.19.
But what followed a week later may have been the difference between winning gold and breaking the world record in Rio and a silver.
Van Niekerk, along with Simbine and women’s 200m sprinter Justine Palframan, were invited to a week-long training camp with Usain Bolt and his coaches in Kingston, Jamaica, and to also participate in the Racers Grand Prix on June 11.
Van Niekerk worked with Bolt’s coach Glen Mills for five days, and worked particularly on getting out of the starting blocks – something that one may think isn’t as vital for a 400m runner.
He did a 300m race on the Saturday, and produced the third-fastest time in history in the rarely-run event of 31.03, just behind Johnson’s best of 30.85 and Bolt’s 30.97.
And that’s how it went in the rest of the build-up to Rio. Throughout the year, it was clear that Van Niekerk was holding back as he often used to ease up before the finish line. That was never more obvious than in the Olympic semi-final, where he ended second in 44.45.
The fact that James qualified fastest in 44.02 and Merritt in 44.21 may have created doubts about whether Van Niekerk was the favourite for the gold.
But in the end, he was running against the clock, and admitted afterwards that he “didn’t know what was going on” with James and Merritt from Lane 8.
James (43.76) was the first to congratulate Van Niekerk, and Merritt followed soon after, but the American was seen shaking his head in disbelief as he had to settle for bronze in an incredible time of 43.85.
So, Wayde van Niekerk’s performance did come from somewhere, and who knows, he may eye Bolt’s 100m and 200m world records in future. And he’ll have a definite plan to get there…
Wayde’s Road to Rio Gold
- 12 March: Runs 9.98 in 100m at the Free State provincial championships in Bloem
- 15 April: SA champs 47.26 in 400m heat, 46.54 in semi-final
- 16 April: Wins SA 400m title in 44.98
- 29 April: SA Student Champs Polokwane, runs 9.98 (wind-assisted) and 10.03 to win 100m and 20.35 to win 200m
- 6 May: Runs 44.11, fastest 400m on SA soil, in heats of SA Open champs in Bloem
- 2 June: Rome Diamond League, wins in 44.19
- 6-10 June: A week-long training camp in Kingston, Jamaica with Usain Bolt, joined by Akani Simbine and Justine Palframan
- 11 June: Wins 300m at Racers GP in Kingston in 31.03, third fastest ever behind Michael Johnson’s 30.85 and Bolt’s 30.97
- 17 June: Wins 400m at adidas Grand Prix in Boston in 44.28
- 25 June: Wins 200m semi-final at African Championshipss in Durban, 20.03 fastest time by an SA athlete on local soil
- 26 June: Wins 200m African title in 20.02, fastest SA time on SA soil. Also helps SA win 4x100m relay at African Championships
- 15 July: Wins 400m at Monaco Diamond League, 44.12
- 12 August: Wins 400m heat in 45.26 in Rio Olympics
- 13 August: Second in 400m semi-final in 44.45, qualifies only fifth fastest for final
- 14 August: Wins Olympic gold, breaks world record of 43.18 by Michael Johnson (1999) by running 43.03 from Lane 8
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